Anna Wintour Talks Federer To WSJ

Anna Wintour (seen below, photographed by Mario Testino, watching tennis on her Paris hotel television) spoke about her close friendships with Joshua Levine for the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a snippet of what she said about her relationship with Roger Federer:

When I met Wintour in her big, artfully tidy office at Vogue, she had been up since 5 a.m.—her normal waking hour. On most days she goes off to play tennis at 6, but lately she’s been nursing a sore elbow and can’t play. Which didn’t mean no tennis. She was watching her friend Roger Federer play a tough five-set match against Gilles Simon at the Australian Open. Simon had beaten Federer twice before, and Wintour was uneasy. “At least he’s through,” she said afterward, visibly relieved.

Wintour first sought out Federer at the 2002 U.S. Open, before he won his first Grand Slam. He was a bit taken aback. “I didn’t really know who she was,” Federer says. She’s since become a trusted adviser and a close friend, not only to him but also to his wife, Mirka, and agent, Tony Godsick. “I bounce all kinds of ideas off her—what to wear on and off the court, photo shoots, sponsors, everything,” he says. For her part, Wintour has never asked him for anything, but, he says, “That day will come, and when it does, I’ll be very happy to work with her.”